1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portioning device which generates metered portions of meat ground by a grinder by means of a shear-like cutting element operating above a single belt conveyor.
More specifically, the invention relates to the constructional improvement for the metered filling of trays or similar containers to be conveyed to a packaging unit.
2. Prior Art
A grinder which generates in a continuously ground meat to be conveyed to the packaging process is well-known to the skilled in the art.
Higher and higher speed and reliability requirements are required for foodstuff packaging in industrial production, in particular in the meat food industry. Namely, foodstuffs, when outputted from a processing machine such as a meat grinder, must be quickly portioned in order to be collected in pre-established amounts in a completely mechanized way in containers or tray-like packaging or plastic sheet as well.
Today, production speed tends to increase in every operational stage in order to obtain a higher number per minute of packed products to be conveyed to the distribution chains. The productivity of operational processes and the output of operational equipment and/or devices heavily affect successful competition on the market for the allotment of industrial supplies. As a consequence, manufacturers of industrial goods strive to achieve better and better performances for their machines and equipment, at the lowest possible cost and with reasonable reliability. Research on performance improvement must take the road of sharp improvement of all components and devices which make up the production line and all related aspects. Thus, the research on improved construction for operational devices and/or means, tends to obtain an overall production line of improved quality, that is of higher technological content joined with constructional simplifications of some importance. The operation being the same, constructional simplifications applied to operational means in practice eliminate most of the drawbacks which may arise during the manufacturing process. Impediments to the manufacturing process, even if reduced to a slight impact in percentage, become of great importance because of the delay they cause during the subsequent stages of the production cycle, due to the high production rate of present manufacturing processes.
There are known portioning devices based on the use of two flat belt conveyors, one subsequent to the other, which convey the ground meat supplied through the extrusion plate of a grinder. This kind of application is based on the use of a portioning device operated between the two conveyors in order to generate measured portions of ground meat. Incidentally, the cutting blade for shearing said portions of meat is located in the space between the two belt conveyors. Of course shearing, in order to generate the measured portions of ground meat in the known applications, cannot take place along the belt conveyor, because the cutting blade would cut into the conveyor itself. The known application illustrated above causes some drawbacks which make its application limited.
The application, in fact, presents some drawbacks which make its manufacturing and assembling stages difficult and, as a consequence, implies high manufacturing costs, together with a not-so rational operation from the functional view point. Such drawbacks consist mainly of the presence of two belt conveyors which cause a double motion and are manufactured using several mechanical elements joined and fastened one to the other, with high overall costs. Moreover, additional elements are needed for their logical operational coordination; all this helps to raise the final cost of such processing equipment, and to cause management problems of relative importance to the operators assigned to the control of the manufacturing process.
Having in mind what set forth above, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a single belt conveyor for conveying the ground meat from the extrusion plate of the grinder to filling the trays and, moreover, to simplify the conveyor itself in its construction. One aim, which also makes up a primary objective of the present invention, is to portion the product in a safe way on the belt itself by operating a shear-like cutting blade.
Another aim of the present invention is that the portioning device be free from drawbacks and allow good visibility along the path of the strip of ground meat to be packed in the trays.
A further aim of the present invention is that the portioning device will provide a simple structure, easy to implement, operating safely and effectively, and moreover of relatively low price.
Such objectives and such aims are all attained by the portioning device of the present invention, which provides a flat fixed element located crosswise above the flat belt conveyor and a cutting element for cutting the ground meat strip into portions in coordinated cooperation. Said flat fixed element comprises a short angled initial section for lifting the meat strip and a short flat terminal section provided with a crosswise slot for the portioning cut of ground meat for filling the trays.
According to a practical embodiment the portioning device of the present invention is located in proximity to the end of the belt conveyor on the side of the trays"" filling, and operates the cutting element when the belt conveyor is stationary.